A leading academic has called for the terms 'gay pride' and 'black pride' to be scrapped because they are 'meaningless'.

Broadcaster and educational consultant Dr Tony Sewell has argued that instead of defining people as minorities, society should be instead striving to define people as 'what they know rather than what they look like'.

He
claimed the situation was now so bad that working class white boys
had been given a 'fictitious' minority label of their own, despite vast regional differences across the country.

Meaningless: Education consultant Tony Sewell has called for the term 'minority' to be scrapped because it labels people

In an interview with the Readers Digest, Dr Sewell said: '"Minority" should be the badge that people are trying to rip off.

'Instead, in the case of certain
musicians, authors and others, it can bring you money and fame. This is a
corruption and a deceit.

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'The gay rights movement is surely a human struggle for homosexuals to be treated equally. Who said anything about a community?'

Dr Sewell runs summer schools for deprived children through his charity Generating Genius. He said most of his cohort were 'predominantly bright black boys'.

And he argued that teachers should stop reinforcing cultural identities by allowing youngsters 'rap versions of Macbeth' rather than reading standard Shakespeare and Chaucer.

He said: 'Too often what poses as cultural identity is, in reality, ignorance or bad education.

'Black and other children need to be schooled in the lexicon of the mainstream, where "street talk" is not seen as another version of Chaucer.

'The standard Shakespearean canon should predominate against the curse of a rap version of Macbeth.

Barrier: Mr Sewell believes 'gay pride' had originally been about fighting for equal rights, not establishing a separate 'community'

'I love rap music, by the way, but it shouldn't be a defining feature of young black men.'

He claimed that the 'biggest barrier' to his own success had been goals was allowing his minority status give him a sense of 'victimhood'.

Pointing out none of the children working with his charity wanted to feel like they belonged to a minority, he said: 'In fact, as part of the course, we deprogramme them from thinking they're locked into an ethnic community.

'We want them to be defined by what they know, not what they look like.'

Dr Sewell added: 'Of course, racism is also a constraint on certain groups and we need laws to protect us from the excesses and evils of mankind.

'But no young person can really take flight in the open skies of the world when placed under the heavy hand of minority status, policed by their friends, family and foes.'

Speaking today, Dr Sewell moved to qualify the details when he said: 'These terms were used in the 70s to help us in the struggle against inequality, but it's been turned around.

'When people were locked out of opportunities these terms were useful, but they're not useful now, particularly in a complex society like the UK.

'I've no idea what you can define as 'black' now because people are so mixed. I do think it's got lost on its way from a framework of political liberation to where certain people almost get benefits from it.

'Young people in particular, if they're going to access opportunities, what's the biggest barrier? And that barrier's the status that's around them, put upon them and sometimes the one they attach themselves to.

'Successful people have moved from that. It's about transcending these barriers.'

Dr Sewell's comments have been criticised by lesbian, gay and bisexual charity Stonewall.

Spokesman Richard Lane said: 'I've never met anyone talking about a separate gay community away from the rest of society.

'Fifty-five per cent of lesbian, gay and bisexual people have experienced verbal and physical bullying.